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A Farewell to Arms
Compare and contrast three themes present throughout the story of A Farewell to Arms
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The story takes place in Italy, during
the First World War, and follows a person by the name of Frederic Henry, who is a Lieutenant in the
ambulance corps of the Italian army
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Three overall themes glow through
the story, and this essay will analyze each theme separately, and then connect and contrast the themes
to discover the significance of each theme to the others
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Henry first meets Catherine after Rinaldi tells him that he loves her, and Henry, therefore, follows
Rinaldi over to Catherine to support him
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Although Henry knows
that Catherine prefers him, he does not truly reflect on this and its effect on Rinaldi, as Henry has no
real experience with love, and at this point, his understanding of love is purely physical
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Catherine
even asks Henry if he actually loves her, and he boldly lies that he does
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This is also why Catherine says “We’re going to have a strange life
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Catherine has experienced the emotional aspect of love, and
she is afraid of being too close with Henry due to her previous experience with love
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While laying in his hospital bed, his mind cannot stay focused long on other things than
Catherine
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As he begins truly to love her,
Catherine comes to his hospital room, and they make love for the first time
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After this occurrence, their love begins to escalate, and they begin to spend
hours and hours together each day
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This is an indication of
true love, and it is an interesting thing that this is Henry’s first authentic experience with love, but not

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Catherine’s
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Catherine: “What good would it do to marry now? We’re really married
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”
Henry: “I only wanted to for you
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I’m you
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”
(Hemingway, 103)
Henry: “I thought girls wanted to be married
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He wants to
marry Catherine for her as he thinks marriage is what all girls want, which is a very basic generalization
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As stated
before, Catherine’s previous fiancé died before they had time to become married, and she tells Henry
that she regrets not marrying him before he died
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Catherine also understands Henry’s intentions and tells him they are one, whether they are
married or not
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At the end of the novel, when it is Catherine’s turn to lay in a hospital bed, she still
understands Henry’s thoughts as she is dying
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‘I’m not a bit afraid
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War is a crucial theme in the story and an important theme to analyze, because, without the war, it
could be argued that Henry would never have realized his true feelings for Catherine
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Several bombs begin
to explode around Henry, and one of his comrades dies and one of the bombs severely wounds his leg
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Laying in his hospital bed in Milan, Henry begins to reflect the events that just occurred
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It
could be said that without the situation Henry landed in, he would never have realized his true feelings
for Catherine
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The war introduces Henry to love, but that love ends in pain
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Before meeting Henry, Catherine had a fiancé who died before they had time to marry
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Catherine dies,
shortly after Henry and Catherine’s newborn baby dies
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Unfortunately, she dies before she
could marry Henry
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At the end of the novel, Henry is empty
inside and walks back to the hotel in the rain
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However, one thing to remember is that Catherine went through nearly the exact same thing as Henry
went through, and Catherine was not lost when she and Henry meet
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The war in A
Farewell to Arms introduced Henry to his first experience with love; however, sadly also his first
experience with loss and pain
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Henry takes part
in the war where he is injured and as a result is hospitalized
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When Henry escapes his death at the Italian checkpoint by jumping into the river, he is exposed to a
change in his mindset regarding the whole situation with the war, because after he gets out of the
water, the only goal he has is to get to Catherine
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He decides to
focus on something that he believes in and can control himself
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During the retreat, before jumping into the river, Henry pulls a gun on two Italian officers, because they
did not listen to his orders
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This is the beginning of his loyalty change
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He argues with himself that if
the army he had put his life at stake for betrayed him so easily, then there is no reason he should
continue fighting for them or helping them
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During his river swim, Henry’s loyalty changes
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The three themes this essay has gone over, love, war, and loyalty, all connect and intertwine on a
certain level, especially love and war
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He constantly convinced himself that he had absolutely no chance of being killed
as this war had nothing to do with him and he was just there to help
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His love for Catherine had helped him
mature as a whole, and he began realizing the reality of the war
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The balance of love and war is evident throughout the
novel, and it could be said that as one increases, the other one decreases, in this case, love increases,
and war decreases
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In this
situation, all three themes are together
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He gains a separate peace with the war, allowing his mind not to argue with
himself why he is deserting, so he can live his life with Catherine
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After Catherine and their newborn
child dies, Henry has no loyalty to anyone, he has no love for anyone, and he is no longer part of the
war
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While A Farewell to Arms is not a complex novel on the surface, if one digs deeper and finds the hidden
and connected themes, several clear messages come forth
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Every change that Henry goes through can be traced to Catherine, and this is surprising, as Catherine
does not go through any significant changes as Henry does
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This essay has gone through the three majors themes present
throughout the novel of A Farewell to Arms, and connected them to see their importance to one
another
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